After spending time discussing abt films from OTHER places (you know what I am insinuating abt ) that will soon be forgotten (lest alone be seen by folks except for a few die hard fanatics ... oops! patriots rather), lets get down to discuss a film that will remain a classic even after we pass away !

Time again Folks to get rid of your YASHRAJ version of SHREE 420

http://www.zulm.net/modules....sid=431

and adopt this DIRT cheap COPY of SHEMAROO as soon as you can. If you cant get hold of this, try and copy the files and burn them on a DVD !!!

Compare the screenshots shown below with the screenshots of the YRF version that has been previewed on the main site.

As you will notice, the contrast on the Shemaroo version is greater than on the YRF version which actually appealed to my eyes. Notice the contrast on the dress NADIRA has worn in the MUD MUD KE NA DEKH..song vis-a-vis the background. ! However If you will notice excessive DVNR has been used on this DVD resulting in motion blurring !

Audio is decent with a pseudo 5.1 mix which is much better than the pseudo 5.1 mix presented on the YRF DVD. This DVD does suffer from the usual problems of Double images (which are as a result of bad encoding rather than due to replication).

So My Verdict ( well i have decided to do it anyways)...

Dump your YRF DVD on EBAY.com and grab the Cheaper priced as well superior quality Shemaroo version

I came across a card board packaged shemaroo shree 420 dvd that looks nothing but orig! I'll be submiting pics of cover art/box and a few SS for comparison, so in case u come across this low price packaging grab it!

Thanks to Arsh here are DVD shots from the Shemaroo DVD plus cover and disk snaps;



































Ali

I have this version too - it's the second release of Shree 420 from Shemaroo. The only difference is this new version has subtitles for the songs. Still, this is among the best B&W Hindi DVDs I've seen (PAL-to-NTSC and phoney 5.1 aside). I don't think Michel Hafner rated it highly enough in his review.

thanks arsh!

U are welcome!! s, my friend should feel all peace as declared original!! yes!! I was impressed with PQ too!

Many thanks, Arsh bhai.

I have the Yash Raj release, and it looks about the same. Not bad, but far from "stellar"; I feel that a film of this caliber, and of this status, deserved far better.

rana you might address audio glitches with this orig relese by shemaroo to Stephen, as he does have same disc! to me audio sounded NORMAL!

My first Shri 420 disc, bought in 2002, most likely was a Shemaroo pirate and has rotten away. It had a VHS insert-edit type video glitch, in one scene, making me suspicious that it's not a genuine Shemaroo exact code DVD copy. PQ was very good though.

My second purchase was directly from Shemaroo India in Sept 2003. As Stephen said, it's PAL to NTSC converted. When checking it today, I notice that it's not Field Averaged for all frames. It's 50 to 60 fps converted by spreading wevery 5th field into 6th one. So, basically every 4 fields are proper, only next two fields are averaged and perhaps this is the reason for excellent PQ.

Audio is fake 5.1 @ 384 kbps. While checking on my PC with Power DVD and good quality audio system, I found sound to be muzzeled and very annoying low frequency Humm. On my TV, through its speakers, sound was perfectly normal. It's so as either, regular TV speakers can't catch Subwoofer (low freq) frequencies, or perhaps some mismatch between my 5.1 set up and DVD audio encoding ?? Although my disc packaging and picture on the disc is different than what mhafner reviewed, it seems to be the same encoding (no sub-t for songs)
(Subsequently, audio prob was traced back to audio set up in my Power DVD. Sounds normal when Power DVD audio set to 5.1 for 5.1 track on DVD.)


SS that Arsh posted has different menus and DVD case-disc scan are different than mine. Moreover, as stephen said, the new release has sub-t in songs too. Not sure if audio is the same or the prob is rectified ??

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Also see:
viewtopic.php?t=3453&start=0

Comparing Arsh's disc (sent to me) and mine, encoding, menus and results are different. Definitely two different authorings. If you liked the above shots from Arsh, mine has even better PQ. Video bit rate is higher too. Only minor prob is audio level/ humm. Arsh's DVD has higher audio level and doesn't suffer from low bass humm but it has hissing noise instead.

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Comment on Double Images as mentioned in first post by sknath above:

Definiely, there are more than 2 or even 3 versions of this Shemaroo DVD. Don't know wehich one was sknath's version. My disc does give double images in half the frames as a result of combining 2 fields into 1 for Prog display (TV monitor) but fields are not averaged. i.e. it's Pseudo-Prog but not with a 2-3 pull down (It's 50 to 60 conversion using repeat fields). Repeat pattern is the same in Arsh's disc as well. So, basically, same master but different encoding/ authoring for sure.

Wow! That's another version I'll have to look out for then.

Thanks for all the great info, Rana.

Just discovered by accident that my Power DVD audio somehow was set to 2 Ch instead of 5.1. The same Shri 420 disc that sounded like muzzled sound, came back to life with Power DVD set to 5.1.

It's not the first time, I experienced muzzled sound due to "5.1/ 2 Ch/ Mono/ simulated audio output" mix up. In most cases there is no noticeable problem even if there is mismatch bet disc audio and montor audio, but occasionally it does cause muzzled audio. I can see why it happens, but don't know why in some cases and not in others.

i compared both versions, old/new shemaroo dvds!

and concur with rana! same telecine but marginally better PQ, sharpness etc, thanks to average higher video bit rate above 5MBPS vs Under 5, in this second version!

I looked up threads on Shree 420 and it appears that this Shemaroo is still the best out there. Would I be correct in that assumption? If so, where can I get it today?